Chug into future

THE YEAR THAT WAS THAT WILL BE
With expansion as mantra, S Rly set to Seven new trains, 300 coaches to cater to rise in traffic
V Ayyappan TNN

Dec 30, 2008

Chennai: The world may still be shrouded in the uncertainty of the economic slowdown, but Southern Railway is set to chug off into a brighter year, taking with it an increasing number of passengers and freight. Year 2008 may have posed some problems for rail passengers, but the year ahead promises to be better, with more trains and more routes to choose from, as Southern Railway is finalising elaborate plans to meet future traffic demands. Railways is also speeding up work to complete the Velachery- St Thomas Mount link of Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), which together with Metro Rail, will pose a credible alternative to the sluggish road traffic in Chennai. “The growth is going to continue, especially because there is demand for more trains and more routes. The road ahead is challenging because we will need a lot of coaches because four gauge conversion projects have already been completed and two doubling and two electrification works will be over by March 2009. This means we will have to reintroduce the services discontinued when the works were taken up,” said Southern Railway chief public relations officer Neenu Ittyerah. “We are going to bring in more trains, more coaches and locomotives and also maintenance yards to meet passenger growth.” So, passengers will get at least seven new trains, while as many as 300 coaches will be added to existing trains to accommodate more passengers across destinations in 2009. The expansion is based on the lessons of 2008. Passenger traffic, which has been on the rise since 2003-04, peaked this year, resulting in tremendous demand for trains from Chennai to destinations in the state such as Tiruchi, Madurai, Nagercoil Tirunelveli and Coimbatore, apart from Bangalore. Bangalore emerged as one of the most popular destination for people travelling from the city, as air passengers switched to trains because of increasing air fare and the distance of the new Devanahalli airport in Bangalore to the city centre. Hundred special trains will be operated every month to these high-patronage routes in 2009. Works of gauge conversion and doubling of existing routes have been kicked off. Gauge conversion of the Katpadi-Vellore Cantonment line and introduction of a mainline EMU service between Vellore and Chennai recently has changed the way people travelled between these two cities. Short-term measures adopted by Southern Railway this year has got mixed responses. While the high demand showed passengers lapping up every new service, the introduction of a third side berth had the passengers squirming, literally. “The demand for berths is so high that we are forced to go ahead with coaches that have extra side berths, though it is unpopular among passengers. We have also placed orders for 300 new coaches. They will be used to prepare new rakes and also to make 22 trains into 24-coach trains,” said a senior railway official. Already 11 trains have 24 coaches. In other trains, extra coaches were added to clear the extra rush on a dayto-day basis. Changing with the times, railways added new stainless steel trains and also came out with a proposal to make designs and fixtures more attractive and commuterfriendly in suburban services. Passenger traffic has been growing at a steady pace since 2003. Year 2008 saw an unprecedented increase in passengers — 9.8%in the suburban trains and 13.95% in other trains, till November this year.
WORKS COMPLETED
Karaikudi-Manamadurai (61.16 km) gauge converted on July Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur (61.21 km)gauge converted in September Katpadi-Vellore Cantonment (9.90 km) gauge converted in November Dindugal-Kodai Road (26 km) in October
TO BE READY IN 2009
Electrification of Villupuram-Ariyallur section (107 km) Third line between Tiruvallur-Arakonam (26.83 km) Third line between Korukkupet-Ennore (11 km) Tiruvarur-Nagore (30 km)